8th place and 1 game over .500. If they can stay in 8th place or better (preferably better) up to the All-Star break, the Lightning will be set up well for the stretch run.

WSH-4
TB-5

Johan Holmqvist stopped just 18 of 22 shots faced for the win. I thought Johan was subpar tonight and wonder if Denis will get back in Saturday in Buffalo. Vincent Lecavalier was MVP caliber tonight scoring 2 goals and 1 assist while his linemates Martin St. Louis and Vaclav Prospal had 1 goal and 1 assist and 1 goal and 2 assists respectively. The names on the Caps may change, but those three when together always seem to dominate Washington, and Lecavalier should've had the hat trick on an empty net bid set up by St. Louis to put the cherry on top. Dan Boyle had 2 assists while Ryan Craig had the game's opening goal on a crafty wraparound. Eric Perrin and Cory Sarich each had individual assists.

Nick Tarnasky played his 40th game of the season tonight and will graduate from prospect status by site criteria Saturday against Buffalo. On a side note, I though Nick played one of his better games in his brief NHL career tonight. Torts must've agreed, because Nick got over eleven and a half minutes of ice time tonight in what was a 1 goal game or tied the entire night.

The win moves the Lightning into 8th in Eastern Conference by virtue of their tiebreaker advantage over Toronto in wins. They also move to within 10 points of Atlanta in the Southeast Division. They would've moved to within 4 points on second place Carolina, except the Panthers (who can do absolutely nothing right and need to be contracted by the league) blew a 3 goal third period lead to lose 6-4. Great move running off Luongo, South Florida.

The Buffalo game on Saturday shapes up as another big one for two reasons: 1.) To continue the momentum from the past three games, and by momentum I mean winning streak, 2.) To gain the confidence only beating the best team in the East and one which has spanked the Lightning regularly over the past two seasons. A win in Buffalo's barn might very well get the Lightning's swagger back.

Update:
One other thing I forgot to add: Andre Roy did a fantastic job holding his own in a fight against Donald Brashear in the second period. The Lightning haven't had anybody do that against a top heavyweight in forever, and that also helps you get your swagger back in a way.

The Springfield Falcons have announced that defenseman John Adams has been reassigned to Johnstown of the ECHL. In 16 games with Springfield, Adams gad 1 goal, 4 points, 10 penalty minutes and a -7 rating.

According to several news sources and everettsilvertips.com, Lightning prospect Dane Crowley was traded by the Swift Current Broncos to the Everett Silvertips yesterday. This is the second season in a row the defenseman has been traded, having been sent from Saskatoon to Swift Current last season. Crowley was an assistant captain for the Broncos.

Crowley was tied for 5th on the Broncos in scoring with 4 goals and 15 assists for 19 points in 33 games this season.

"Dane will bring valuable leadership and experience to our blueline this season," said Silvertips VP/General Manager Doug Soetaert. "He brings a good right handed shot from the point and will add quality depth to our defense corps."

Tampa goaltending prospect Kevin Beech was shocked by the news that he was dealt by the Sudbury Wolves to the Erie Otters for a 2007 conditional draft pick at the OHL deadline as reported earlier today by the Sudbury Star.

Sudbury earlier traded for Toronto St. Michael's Majors overaged scoring star Justin Donati. That trade put put the Wolves over the 3 man overager limit, requiring Sudbury to deal one of its other three overagers. Beech was the odd man out.

"I never thought this was going to happen, so it's real unexpected," Beech said, especially considering how well he felt he had played lately. "I had the one bad game after Christmas, but if you look at my numbers over the last month and a half, I think I've played great. But the Wolves need scoring, and I can't bring that."

I talked yesterday with doctor (M.D) of Team Ilves about Riku Helenius. He said, that RikuÂ´s healing is in schedule. Riku has no-contact "order", but he is practicing at ice. I understand, what doctor said, that Riku is skating, but nothing more. They will evaluate RikuÂ´s permission to play in late February. So Riku might get in action early March. Sadly I know, that Riku will play in Ilves Jr. team rest of the season, because menÂ´s team has already two goalies. We will hope, that Tuukka Rask is heading to Boston next summer and Riku might get a chance to be No. 1 goalie in Team Ilves in next season.

The win moves the Lightning back to .500 at 21-21-2, good for 44 points and putting the Lightning now just 1 point behind Washington for 8th in the Eastern Conference. Next up: a "ginormous" tilt with the Capitals at home.

What a difference a little goaltending and an occassional goal from a checking liner makes.

Andreas Holmqvist registered 1 assist today to extend his point scoring streak to 5 games, but Linkopings was pummelled 8-3 by Malmo. Linkopings is currently 6th in the Elitserien, but Malmo entered the day dead last on the league table.